GALATEA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 269, 8 July 1932, Page 4

GALATEA

The excuse that the Government is delaying the settlement of the Galatea estate in order to safeguard against any possibility of bush sickness, smacks overmueh of an afterthought to be accepted at its face value. We entirely agree with the Minister of Native Affairs (Sir Apirana Ngata) in his contention that it would be unfair to expose prospective settlers to the risk of taking up jbush-sick country, but the dis- | closure of the Government's intentions and investigations in this direction, is distinctly belated. No explanation of the "mark-time" policy which has been pursued at Galatea was given by the Government until the matter was ventilated through the Press and made the subject of a question in the House of Representatives. Even when a statement was made by the Minister of Lands, Hon. E. A. Ransom, it left a great deal to be desired and entirely failed to answer a number of very pertinent points which had been raised. And now it appears that | among those points overlooked J by the Minister, was this very | important disclosure regarding the possibility of bush-sickness I on the estate. It would have been highly relevant to Mr. Ransom's explanation to mention this fact, but apparently it was either overlooked or considered more advisable to release it two months later through the medium of the Minister for Native Affairs. Sir Apirana Ngata, in j making the statement, said that ithe Government was guided by l the recommendations of its exi perts, and by previous experi- | ence in land settlement schemes. This deference to expert opinion is, of course, highly commendable, but it is difficult to understand why it has been disclosed only at this late juncture. The proper time to conduct investigations into the condition of the country, was before the purchase and not after a very large sum of taxpayers' money had been spent on the scheme. It would be equally intelligent to import stock with a possibility of infection from tfoot and mouth disease, and commence to look for the infection after their arrival in the country. The fact that Galatea was on the edge of the volcanic ash showers, and conse-

quently was likely to be slightly affected by bush-sickness, must have been known to the Government experts when the purchase was being considered. TO put the matter very mildly indeed, it is a little late in the day to begin announcing these far-sighted precautions when the scheme has proceeded to its present stage. So far as we are aware, the possibility of serious trouble through bush-sickness at Galatea is remote. It has been generally held to be outside the affected area, and although a great deal of criticism has been levelled at the scheme, the allegation 'of bush-sickness is one which has so far not been made. It remained for the Government itself to raise this latest complieation. If the data which the Native Minister has quoted was in the possession of the Government, and was not put to some use, the Government must accept the responsibility. If, on the other hand, the authorities have only recently become aware of the possibility of bush sickness on the estate, that fact constitutes a distinct reflection upon the efficiency of the Government's land purchase methods. We would be the first to applaud the Government in any reasonable precautions in testing the land, but when £137,000 of the taxpayers' money has been spent, it is a little late to commence investigations which should have been carried out before the purchase was made.